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Dec 7, 2010

Baingan Barta

This is my husband's favorite dish. This is a dish which we eat whenever we go to Royal Taj, a north Indian restaurant, in San Jose. I was very hesitant to try this recipe because I didn't want to spoil his taste buds. But after seeing these Barta Baingans available in the markets here, I was so curious to try this today. Followed the recipe from Manjula's Kitchen. I made couple of changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients:-

Eggplant/Barta Baingan - 1 (big)

Onion - 1 medium sized (finely chopped)

Tomato - 2 (medium sized finely chopped)

Green Bell Pepper - 1 (medium sized) (finely chopped)

Garlic - 5 pods (chopped finely)

Ginger - a small piece (finely chopped)

Oil - 2 tsp

cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 1

turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

red chillies powder - 1 tsp (acc to taste)

salt to taste

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)

coriander leaves - for garnishing

Milk - 2 tbsp

Apply oil on top of egg plant. Take a microwave safe bowl and microwave the oil applied egg plant for 9 minutes in high (mine is 900W). Let it cool. In the mean time, pre heat oil, splutter cumin seeds, add finely chopped ginger & garlic, green chillies and saute for a minute. Now add finely chopped onions & green bell pepper to it. Cook it for 3 to 4 minutes or till it becomes half cooked. Now add finely chopped (or grind it into a paste) tomato to it. Let everything cook. Meanwhile, peel the skin off from the eggplant and mash it with a fork. When the ingredients starts boiling, add the mashed eggplant, turmeric powder, red chillies powder, salt & garam masala powder and mix it well. Sprinkle a hand full of water and let everything cook for 5 minutes. Now add the milk and mix it well. Garnish it with coriander leaves. This goes really well with rotis, chapatis or with rice(I had it with rice as side dish).